Ordinary Time

Fear is a part of life, and we have all entertained our own personal fears. Our fears are a matter of perspective, especially the fear of death - perhaps the greatest fear of humanity. For those of us with God in our life and faith in Jesus, we have certain hope in the plan of God for us after this life. Remember: sparrows, the simplest of birds, are not without God's divine care - so how much more, then, is His care for you?

Sometimes, bad things happen and we entertain thoughts of God punishing us. We ascribe to God a sense of quid pro quo or wrathfulness because of a sin or a bad decision we have made, but this is the farthest thing from the truth. Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and His love for each of us is perfect, unconditional, and unending.

Theologian G.K. Beale wrote about how we become like what we worship. By worshiping God, who is love, we are conformed into being the loving person God wants us to be. To love as God love forces us to examine how we deal with our relationships and the quality of our love in those relationships. Examine your conscience for where God is in your life. Based on that, reorient that which is blocking His love or increase that which is drawing you closer to Him.

Living the commandment to love our enemies is probably the hardest thing we can do. Simply put, we cannot do this without the supernatural grace of God. Remember that "love" is not the same as “like.” Loving someone is willing good for the other, while liking someone is a much more subjective thing. You don’t have to like everyone, but you must love them.
This commandment is not a suggestion. It’s just the hardest thing to do. So, let us pray for the supernatural grace to love our enemies. Period.

The vocation to marriage calls an individual to imitate God’s love by dedicating oneself to service for their spouse and to be open to the children conceived from their love. In this covenant of love, husbands and wives strive to live out the promise to love as God loves in a particular way, by giving of each other without condition. Through the highs and lows, the ecstasies and crucibles of marriage, each spouse’s vocation is to help the other become more of what God desires for them.

Humility is knowing who we are as God has created us; knowing our true place in life, not more and not less. We are meant to recognize our God-given talents and tend those gifts to the best of our ability, not for the sake of ourselves but for God and others. To be ultimately motivated for our own sake is arrogance, empty, and vain. Our struggle is that we are prone to slip into the two extremes: “I’m pond scum” and “not worthy to be alive” or “I am the greatest” and “I know more about things than anyone else.” A truly faithful, humble life is one that gives ourselves away, to forget out our narcissistic ideations, and simply serve others without ulterior motives.

In the end, the Beatitudes are really about God’s love for us, hidden in the cross; God waiting for us in the difficult places. It’s not easy to trust that, to surrender to that. If you haven't yet, pray the Surrender Novena; there's strength and courage in that prayer, a peace that the world cannot give. All of us have those hard places in our life, places that are out of control, ugly, sad, hurting; places that we wish were different. Those places aren’t a barrier to God’s love. Because of what Jesus has done, God now waits for us there.

Borrowing heavily from the book Managing from the Heart, Fr. Bill offers these five principles when engaging with others, as we commit to and work towards greater unity:
1. Hear and understand me
2. Even if you disagree, don’t steamroll me
3. Acknowledge the greatness within me
4. Remember to look for my loving intention
5. Tell me the truth with compassion